Pay the Piper
by Hedgi
Summary: Prompted from Tumblr, oneshot. Barry goes to fight the latest breacher, but it's a familiar face-with unfamiliar motivations. And he wants a rematch, one that Barry can't give him-but Cisco, apparently, can. Cisco centric.


Another of my Prompted from Tumblr Minifics. Gift for you for my birthday.

* * *

First Linda, and kinda sorta Dr. We- _Harry_ , and now Zoom had thrown another face from their past at them. Cisco was sick of it, but he was more sick to his stomach with dread, honestly, because yeah, he didn't like Hartley Rathaway a whole lot but the guy hadn't been as much of a dick since Evil!NotActually!Wells had been erased from time. Maybe it was knowing that he'd been right, maybe it was the therapy rat, but he'd been somewhat of a decent human being and now, this version of Pied Piper might have killed him.

"Probably not," Caitlin had muttered under her breath when Barry had expressed the concern. "He's clever. He might have left town."

The truth was, they didn't know what had happened to Piper Prime. As soon as they'd gotten a location, Barry had raced off to prevent whatever catastrophe was threatening the city this week, and about four seconds later the com had gone down. Cisco'd been trying desperately to pull up the feed, Caitlin unable to rip her eyes from Barry's vitals, which weren't looking good, but weren't as bad as the last time he'd fought a Pied Piper, at least, not yet.

Caitlin wished Jay was here with his knowledge of this other Hartley. She wished Firestorm, _her_ Firestorm, was here to help. She almost wished that Harry were around, though he had been more or less banned from Cisco's presence after shoving Dr. Light's helmet at his heart, and she'd been banned from his after sucker punching him in the face for it. (She would maintain until the end of time itself that he'd deserved worse than she'd given.)

"Cisco, is there any way you can find…?" She asked, voice starting to edge on hysteria. Cisco shook. He didn't shake his head, he shook, his whole body wracking.

"I tried. I tried, I—it doesn't work like—I tried," he looked close to tears, more scared than she'd seen him since the Trap for Eobard had turned out to be a trap for them. She reached out for his hand, squeezing it gently. "I've got facial recognition running, but –if they're not near any cameras, it'll be harder," Cisco swallowed, pulling free. "We're gonna find him, though, we ar-" he was cut off by a voice from the speakers.

"I know you can hear me," and oh god why did both Hartley Rathaways have to sound so smug and superior?

"What do you want, Piper?" Caitlin demanded, voice shaking. "We can protect you from Zoom. We can send you home."

"That's funny. You think he had to force me here? I don't want anything to do with him, yes, but when I heard about this—your little set up, your little team, that he was still around in this world? Oh, I wasn't going to pass that up. I came for my rematch, Caity."

"Don't call her that," Cisco snapped. "What did you do to Barry?"

"Nothing much, yet. No point. It's really not much of a fight, honestly. How he ever beat the other me, I don't know. Maybe I should ask. Pathetic, really. A few altered soundwaves and he can't even stand."

"If your rematch sucks so much, then let him go," Cisco said, glancing at the vitals screen. Numbers that had been in green were dipping yellow, never a good sign. Still nothing on facial recognition.

"Oh?" Piper laughed. "Oh, that is funny. You thought I was here for this?" over the com, there was a groan of pain, a foot against flesh. "Oh, no. The Flash is fun, but not my…speed. No, I'm here for you, Cisquito. A true test, who the master of sound waves really is. You, or me. Fifteen minutes, shall we say, near the overpass north of STAR Labs, or your little—what was it? Scarlet knight?—has his organs shredded from within. Leave the Ice queen."

"'Sco, don't—" Barry's voice was weak, and suddenly there was a crunch. The air filled with static as the commline went dead.

Cisco stood, still trembling, reaching for his coat. Caitlin grabbed his arm, her hand clammy. "Cisco, I thought your powers were—visions."

"They are. Maybe other me—oh god, there's another me, I hope his life sucks—sucked—less but sounds like he's, I'm, dead ok, that's not –let's not think about that—maybe he had something else, like how our Linda didn't have powers?"

"He'll kill you!" Caitlin squeaked.

"Vote of confidence, thanks." Cisco shrugged, his eyes haunted. "If I don't go, he'll kill Barry. Maybe I can, I dunno, distract him." He ducked into the storage room, returning with a bulky package. "I maaaay have been tinkering with the remains of Piper Prime's gauntlets. Hopefully that'll be enough. Also, can I borrow your car?"

"If you promise to bring it back. One piece or not. It just has to be you bringing it back." Caitlin whispered. "I know. You have to—go. Be careful. Please."

Cisco nodded and took the keys. "I will. I'm sorry."

* * *

Cisco was pretty sure this was the overpass where Ronnie had basically lived while he and Stein had been merged and low on clarity and sanity, and how was that for parallels? Honestly, he was pretty sure he could nail down freaking character arcs in his own life, which would have been really, really cool if he were the Main Character, but he wasn't, which was pretty much why none of this made any sense. Why did Hartley—er, Earth two Evil Piper, not that their Piper wasn't evil exactly but that was also beside the point—want to fight _him_ , of all people? Why wasn't he challenging his doppelganger, or Barry, or his Flash, or hunting down an ROUS to lure into the harbor or something like that?

"I can hear you," Piper 2.0 called, and Cisco muttered his Tia Delores's favorite curse under his breath, because of course he wouldn't get a minute to scope out the situation. The guy looked a lot like Hartley, which was expected—if Hartley had been on his way to a Harry Potter/ Lord of the Rings convention, or a Ren Faire. It was only the sight of Barry on the ground with what looked like two broken legs that kept Cisco from laughing at the billowing cloak-thing Piper was wearing. He was breathing, Cisco could tell that much, and thanked every saint he could name. He also appeared less-than conscious, which was Just Fantastic™.

Ok, so plan A of "Distract him so Barry can run the hell away" looked like that was no longer an option. Plan B it was. Talking to evil psycho metas didn't go too terribly for Barry all the time, right? Right? No, this was a terrible plan, but it was the only one Cisco had. He held up his hands, most of the gauntlets covered by the baggy sleeves of his hoodie.

"Look, uh, Rathaway, I don't know what—" he started, cut off as a sound wave pulsed through the air to his left. His ear rang, and he stumbled a bit. "What other me did to you, or what powers he had, but I'm not him, so how about—" another sound blast, this one catching Cisco in the chest and hurling him backwards.

"Are you just going to run your mouth, or are you going to fight?" Piper demanded, his voice echoing more than the overpass should have let it.

Right. Distracting wasn't working, talking was falling into the 90% category where all it did was get your ass kicked. Cisco scrambled to his feet, dodging where he thought the next blast was aimed, as if he could see the waves and pulse before they left other Piper's ungloved hands. Great, he wasn't using tech, he was a Meta. Lovely. "If you don't want to fight, I can always finish what I started with Scarlet," Piper sneered as Cisco hesitated.

He may not have had powers that were at all useful in this situation, but that didn't mean he was going to let that happen. He raised Piper Prime's gauntlets, hoped it would work, and aimed. He missed, but when Piper turned to scoff at the tiny dent in the dirt pile nearby, Cisco's fist didn't miss the meta's nose. There was a rather satisfying crunch of cartilage.

Piper fought back, shoving hard and adding his powers to the force to knock Cisco flying. He slammed against the ground, scrabbling upright and swiping blood from his cheek—he wasn't sure if it was a scratch or some of Piper's. Unfortunately, the gauntlet hid more harm than good-if there hadn't been a scratch, there was now.

"Oh, frak." His left handed gauntlet was worse than scrap, though the right one seemed ok, and before he could get his feet steady again, a sound like thunder burst in his ears. The world seemed fuzzier, dimmer, not quite right. He couldn't even hear what Piper had to be saying—something nasty and sarcastic based on the fact that his lips were moving—but had a feeling that it wasn't good.

Cisco longed for the good old days of getting beat up on the schoolyard where at least he had a shot until the odds went to more than three on one. Very faintly, he thought he heard a car alarm, or maybe he felt it, pulsing in his bones and gut like speakers with the bass turned up. The alarm was probably a good thing, maybe cops would show up. If enough of them did—no, unless it was Joe and Patty, it wouldn't end well, and dammit, he should have called Joe and Patty. Piper kept at it, blasting at the ground around Cisco's feet, dust flying. Every time Cisco got within punching range, Piper sent him flying.

Cisco tried to see Barry through the dust. Maybe his legs had healed enough? No, not without splints or something, and certainly not in fifteen minutes, or twenty. So far, the record speed for healing a broken bone had been an hour, but that had been for a minor break and he'd had Caitlin to help. Maybe he could get Barry to Caitlin's car? He'd never be able to drive it, but hell, if they could get there, they could get away, deal with Piper another day. That was always their plan, wasn't it? Live to fight later? Cisco edged towards Barry, who'd struggled to prop himself up on his elbows, awake but only dimly coherent. Piper shook his head at him, and a pulse caught him square in the chest, knocking him flat. That hobbit-rip-off cloak fluttered as Earth two Piper stepped closer, standing over Cisco. He tried to suck air into his lungs and failed spectacularly.

"You coward, just fight back." Piper jeered. Cisco was pretty sure that's what he said, anyway, even though his hearing still felt—off. Fuzzy. "If I wanted to kick a puppy around a parking lot I'd have done that with the Flash. Though if you can't give me a decent fight, maybe I'll have to anyway." And there was that smirk, the same one Hartley had worn whenever he had an answer no one else did, or knew a secret, whenever he was overconfident.

Except Cisco wasn't sure Piper was being _over_ confident because he felt like one giant bruise and his ears hadn't stopped ringing. He kicked out, connecting solidly with Piper's knee, and had to roll to avoid a sonic boom to the face. Hadn't Piper ever heard of overkill? There had to be something he could do, there was _always_ something he could do. This wasn't fighting Wellsobard, after all, this was freakin' Hartley Rathaway's even more awful double, there had to be something—right? A foot pressed down on his chest, and Cisco scrabbled for a rock to throw, for something.

"This really was disappointing. Really. I was hoping for something better, something challenging, but you…you really don't have his powers, do you? Maybe I'll have to pay a visit to STAR, see if there's anyone in this reality worth my time." The foot pressed harder. "Does this world's Caity have-"

The desperate need for air hadn't been enough, but with the threat to Catlin, Cisco felt something snap into place, a gauntlet clicking against the ground in pieces as something shot from his palms, up and out. The blast was nothing like those directed by the now useless gauntlets, there was nothing mechanical about it. Sound waves, visible as ripples like sunlight on water, slammed forward feeling like music, pulled right from Cisco's core.

Piper went flying. Cisco scrambled to his feet, wincing, and raised his palms again, feeling like every action star in the world rolled into one. He _pulled_ noise from his vibrating bones, the car alarm, the roar of cars on the overpass, his own wordless cry of fury. The onslaught sent Piper, stunned, back, and back again, and Cisco refused to give him even a moment to get his guard back. Fighting fair was for people in rings and matches, not fighting for their friend's lives.

Piper managed one more blast, at Cisco's feet, and Cisco stumbled, righting himself in time to send a moderately gentler blast to Piper's chin. He hit the ground like a stone, unconscious, though somehow Cisco could still hear his heartbeat. He paused, panting, and scanned the ground for Barry…who was now around ten yards from where he'd been before, looking like he'd been dragged across the ground.

Or pushed, Cisco realized as he remembered flinging out a hand when he stumbled.

"Barry, are you ok?" Cisco ran over, his pulse beating wildly, like it too wanted to become a soundwave and escape.

"I think so-ow. Yeah. Um. What?" Barry blinked.

"I…I don't know, I—I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you, I—"

"Sorry? You saved my life. Maybe not my pride, but that's—ow—not exactly something that hasn't been wounded before. I'm alive to get over it," Barry winced.

"Uh, right, ok, um, let's just… go."

Caitlin's tiny fiat no longer had windows, or a windshield, and in general looked pretty badly dented, but it started. Cisco got the worst of the glass off the seats before awkwardly helping Barry into the back, trying not to hurt his friend's legs worse. Piper, bound with jumper cables, duct tape, three scarves and a copious amount of gauze bandaging courtesy of "Caitlin's always prepared for everything," was given no such consideration, crammed into the trunk. If anyone deserved it, he did.

Caitlin was waiting for them, and even from across the parking lot as she started to run, Cisco could hear her heartbeat, a sob in her throat.

"I'm sorry about your car," he offered.

She didn't bother to respond, hugging him tightly instead.

* * *

Feel free to leave a comment. As a birthday gift? I hope you liked it!


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